or greater justice be laid at the door of Boethius, from whom he derives his picture of the Golden Age, when all things were common and laws needless, or at that of Geoffrey Chaucer, for his charming poem of “The Former Age,” drawn from the same source?
That Jean de Meun’s utterances in this regard were taken by his contemporaries rather poetically than didactically may fairly be inferred from the favour with which the book was certainly received by persons of royal and of noble estate. In considering the latter part of the “Romance of the Rose,” and what it was that spurred its author on to give expression to the exhortations contained in it, it will not be beside the purpose to keep in view another popular book of the day which can scarcely have failed to come under his notice.
Towards the conclusion of the “Romance” it will be seen how Nature introduces her high-priest Genius, who holds forth at considerable length in praise of fecundity, assuring those who follow and carry out Nature’s laws thereon, of a participation in the joys of heaven, in a manner somewhat startling.
But it seems by no means improbable that Jean de Meun intended this as a counterpoison to the doctrines which had just then been specially brought forward and enforced by the
